Santorum the Über-Catholic: Survivors of Clerical Sexual Abuse not Buying It

I wrote last week that, while right-wing Catholics try to spin Rick Santorum as "the" Catholic candidate for 2012, the broad base of Catholics in the U.S. exhibits a much wider spectrum of viewpoints about Santorum and his Catholicity.  Here's one American Catholic who's not buying the Saint Rick argument:

Margery Eagan writes in the Boston Herald this past Sunday that when she recently attended a meeting of survivors of clerical sexual abuse and advocates for survivors in Boston, the crowd booed anytime Santorum's name was mentioned.  The gathering was to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the uncovering of the abuse situation in Boston's Catholic archdiocese.

Eagan notes that Santorum's "loathsome worldview" blames "cultural liberalism" for the abuse situation in the Catholic church, and she thinks that the booing demonstrates the resentment many Catholics feel about Santorum's attempt to politicize the suffering of victims of childhood sexual abuse by using the abuse crisis as an occasion to mount his usual moralizing political analysis which finds liberal moral decay at the heart of all problems.  

And about Santorum's much-vautned über-Catholicity, here's what Eagan also has to say: 

It turns out that Santorum, despite his uber Catholic posturing, is a cafeteria Catholic in reverse. Or maybe I should call him an “all about sex” Catholic because he only agrees with the church’s doctrines on matters sexual. 

Look at his record. He’s for the death penalty and a foreign policy macho hawk (both against Catholic teaching). He’s opposed to illegal immigration and social justice for the poor (both big time against Catholic teaching from the Vatican and the American church).

If Mr. Santorum gets the GOP nomination (but he won't: he's only another stage prop preparing for the introduction of Saint Mitt), he's going to have a steep uphill climb to convince many of his fellow Catholics that he stands for bona fide Catholic values.  Margery Eagan isn't buying it.  And the community of survivors and advocates with whom she spent Saturday morning aren't, either.